It was unreal how much her daughters resembled her. Maryanne’s hair was always perfectly colored to its natural auburn, and her light blue-gray eyes sparkled in the sunlight. Suzanna was feminine, like Maryanne, while Jordan and Wynn were more masculine in the way they dressed. Wynn, however, was the only one of the three who resembled Howard, their father, with a narrower face, darker eyebrows, and wonderfully thick lashes.
As she approached, Maryanne stood and pulled her into her arms. “Hi, honey. It’s good to see you.” She motioned to the pool. “The water is wonderful, and the kids have been waiting for you.” She leaned closer and softly said, “They got very excited when I told them you were coming over.”
The feeling was mutual. She hadn’t been able to wait to finish with her last couple so she could get here to see them. The couple’s decision to separate still weighed heavily on her. What bothered her even more was that they’d been afraid to tell her. Had she tried to convince them of anything? She hoped not. She was supposed to guide them to find their own feelings about each other and their marriage, not impose her own values on them.
“Aunt Carly, watch this.” Her nephew Josh shouted from the diving board before he flew into the water and made a huge splash. He was six years old and about to go into first grade, definitely a mama’s boy. Suzanna had told Carly she was worried about how he would adapt to a full day of school.
Carly watched Julianna swim from the deep end of the pool to the shallow end, where she and Maryanne were standing. Her strokes were getting faster. Julianna was the independent child, headed into second grade with confidence. She soaked up knowledge like a sponge with spilled milk. The conversations Carly had with her were so much more adult than her years warranted.
Julianna’s head emerged from the water, and she wiped her eyes. “Are you coming in?”
She held up her bag. “Brought my suit, so I guess that means yes.” Julianna smiled widely, and happiness spread through Carly. She loved these kids as though they were her own. “I guess I’d better change.” She turned and walked to the back door and into the closest bedroom. All the bedrooms had their own bathrooms now, and the master was upstairs, so it really didn’t matter which one she chose. This was the one she usually used. Oddly, with its moody gray walls accented by royal-blue bedding, it felt more comfortable to her than any of the others. Jordan’s room was decorated in a vibrant crimson that could set off an instant migraine in anyone spending more than ten minutes there. It was totally in tune with Jordan’s energized personality.
She hung her dinner clothes in the closet and set her phone on the dresser before she quickly changed into her red, one-piece suit and went back outside. She didn’t want to waste another minute away from the kids. The cool pool water felt refreshing as Carly crashed through the surface in the deep end and swam underwater to the shallow end. The weather this summer was hotter than usual, averaging in the mid-eighties for the past few weeks.
“Want to race, Auntie Carly?” She heard Julianna’s voice as soon as her head came above water.
“Give me a head start?”
“Then you’ll win.” Julianna’s mouth dropped open. Her miffed expression was priceless—one that Carly loved to elicit often. Julianna always didn’t catch the subtlety of her sarcasm.
“Exactly.” She grabbed hold of the edge and readied herself to race. “Up and back?”
Julianna nodded. “Once or twice?”
“Just once. Are you trying to kill your old auntie?”
Julianna giggled and held the edge of the pool before she gave the cue to race. “Ready, set, go.”
She waited a few seconds after Julianna took off and then swam after her. She passed her midway, but then Julianna took her at the turn. Carly never could manage a flip turn, even when she was younger. Trying to keep up with Julianna wasn’t easy. She’d been on the local swim team since she was able to float and had become a champion in her age group.
“I won.” Julianna stood in the shallow end holding up her arms and bragging like a champion.
“Fair and square. I didn’t even give it to you this time.” She picked Julianna up and tossed her toward the middle of the pool.
Julianna came up swiping the water from her eyes. “Better not’ve.”
She laughed and then swam a few more laps before stopping in the shallow end and joining in the ring-toss target game with Josh, a much easier challenge.
Howard, Carly’s father-in-law, stepped out onto the patio from the sliding kitchen door and dropped his towel onto a chair before racing toward the pool and launching into the deep end. Once the kids were completely occupied racing with Howard, Carly made her way to the steps and out of the pool. Maryanne had a towel waiting for her on the lounger under the umbrella next to her, as well as a cold bottle of water.
“So, where’s Jordan? I thought she was coming with you.” Marianne raised an eyebrow.
“At work, as usual. I’ve tried everything I can to keep her interest, but work always seems to come first.”
Maryanne nodded slowly, as though choosing her words carefully. “Can I be honest with you?”
“Of course. Always.”
“I can see that you’re unhappy.”
“What makes you say that?” She blotted her face with the towel. “I’m just a little tired.”
“I know my daughter better than you think.” Marianne pulled her eyebrows together. “Work is her main focus. Outside of that she has a very short interest span.”
Carly couldn’t help but smile at Maryanne’s observations because they were spot-on. “I can’t seem to find a way to keep her attention.”
“Are you sure you want to keep trying?”
“I don’t want to stop. I mean, I’m not sure I’m ready to just give up.” She found it interesting that Maryanne seemed to cut to the core of the issue when Carly hadn’t even known she was aware of it.
“I’ve always thought you were more suited for Wynn than Carly.” Marianne spoke as though it was a fact everyone was aware of. “Suzanna agrees.”
Heat rushed Carly at the thought. “What?”
Maryanne vaulted from her chair and shouted, “No running to the diving board. I’m not going to the hospital today.” She sank back to the lounger and focused on Carly again. “Divorce isn’t the end of the world, you know.” Maryanne watched Howard as he played with their grandchildren. “Did I ever tell you I was married briefly before I met Howard?”
She snapped her gaze back to Maryanne. “No. You didn’t.” And neither had Jordan.
Maryanne nodded. “We were right out of college and very much in love. We had no idea where our lives were going to take us, and as time went on they just happened to take us in opposite directions.”
“Wow. That must have been hard.”
“Not as hard as you might think. Eventually, we were making each other more miserable than happy, and we both realized the marriage wasn’t going to work. Blaming each other for giving up the things we wanted was useless, so we decided it would be best to move on. We’d rather be friends than become enemies.”
“I’ve never thought about it that way. I’ve always thought Jordan and I could work it out.”